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The Indian Rebellion of 1857: The Revolt Spreads

On a Sunday evening in May 1857 Indian soldiers of the East India Company's army mutinied at Meerut and rode for Delhi. Within weeks much of northern India was in revolt — soldiers, princes dispossessed by the Company, and villagers with their own grievances. It took the British more than a year to crush it, and afterwards the Company itself was abolished and India placed under the Crown. The rebellion goes by many names, from the Sepoy Mutiny to the First War of Independence. It was not one army on one road but a chain of uprisings, and the route visits its main centres in order: Meerut, Delhi, Kanpur, Lucknow, Jhansi, Kalpi and Gwalior. Both sides committed atrocities against civilians, and the texts name them plainly.